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| Staff Writer |
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The parade ring at the Breeders' Cup lasts for a full hour before each race, but European spectators are lucky to view the horses for five minutes before a race. For the Cup, the majority of the athletes competing in the 14 Grade One events spend each morning of the week leading up to the competition exercising on the track. This week, roughly 200 horses are stabled at Keeneland in Kentucky, all of whom are top racehorses wearing the recognisable purple saddle cloth. These horses are among the select few of the world's six-figure foal crop that are good enough to compete in the Cup. This week, however, the excitement will have been at a fever pitch as Flightline prepares to defend his undefeated record in Saturday's Breeders' Cup Classic and a real monster of the dirt heads out to breeze in the early light.
Two-time victor Cigar Flightline has long odds to follow in the footsteps of champions like Tiznow, Zenyatta, and American Pharoah, all of whom were highly anticipated and ultimately did not disappoint in the presence department over the past 30 years. And perhaps to pass them on the 39-year-old Breeders' Cup's list of all-time greats. While fans may always argue about which champions are the best, Flightline's official rating of 139 following his astonishing performance in the Pacific Classic at Del Mar in September strongly shows that he is the best dirt runner of the recent decades. Even though his jockey, Flavien Prat, backed down for the majority of the final furlong, the horse still won by 1914 lengths.
The horse he was racing against was Country Grammer, who had won the Dubai World Cup in March. Comparable only to Secretariat's 31-length Belmont Stakes victory in 1973, this effort was unprecedented for a dirt horse. For nearly half a century, "Big Red's" Belmont's attention to detail and elegance has been used as a club to beat down any would-be challengers to his preeminence. He finished the mile and a half race in 2 minutes and 24 seconds, running the first quarter of the course in less time than he did when he won the Kentucky Derby five weeks earlier. Like his other two US Triple Crown victories, the Derby and Preakness Stakes, it stands as an all-time record. When paying $1 million at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton yearling sale for the son of Tapit, Flightline's owners, notably the California-based Kosta and Pete Hronis, who hold 37.5%, likely had a shot at Churchill Downs in mind.
However, they had confidence in the quality of the horse they had, and he opened as the betting favourite and went on to win by 13 lengths. Four and a half months later, on December 26 at Santa Anita, Flightline won another minor event by a margin of 13 lengths and then went on to take on Grade One competition in the Malibu Stakes. He won by 11 and then cruised to victory in his Grade One debut as a 4YO at Belmont, setting the stage for his career-defining performance in the Pacific Classic. The joy of his victory in the Pacific Classic remains undiluted even after being viewed over and over again. He has all the makings of a horse for the ages, and a victory in the Classic would seal the deal.